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CENTRAL JERSEY – Despite more than 20 inches of snow, hazardous roadways and a few roof collapses, Central Jersey survived the first snowstorm of the winter relatively well. There were no serious injuries reported.

Two well-known businesses — Trader Joe's in Westfield and Center Circle Indoor Sports in Rahway— suffered collapses of the roof and arena dome respectively. According to Westfield police officials, the Trader Joe's roof collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow around 2 p.m. The business at 155 Elm Street was closed at the time and no one was hurt, the watch commander said, but the building was severely damaged. As of Sunday morning, access to the building was not possible and the area was deemed off limits.

In Rahway, the dome of the Center Circle Indoor Sports partially collapsed, said a city police officer. Like at Trader Joe's, the 55,000-square-foot facility at 1255 Main Street was closed at the time of the collapse and no one was inside or injured, said Carl Schulz, owner/general manager.

The 17-year-old Circle has two indoor sports arenas for soccer, roller hockey, field hockey, flag football, lacrosse, softball, ultimate Frisbee and other sports. According to Schulz, the Circle experienced structural damage when part of the grass field soccer structure fell in due to the weight of the snow. All games and practices are postponed until further notice.

"This has never happened before," Schulz said. "We survived Sandy three years ago with minimal damage. We were outside shoveling snow and cleaning the sidewalk. No one was in the arenas. We heard one loud creak and boom, it just collapsed. We have two arenas designed to shed the snow and slide right off. One tent did exactly that. On the arena that collapsed, one side shed correctly, but on the other side — the street side — the snow just accumulated and the weight was too much. The A-frame collapsed from the weight."

Center Circle Indoor Sports in Rahway sustained a collapse of onf of its arena domes Saturday during the snowstorm.(Photo: ~Courtesy of Carl Schulz)

Schultz remains optimistic that the Circle will repoen.

"We alrready have our power back," he said. "In the great scheme of things in business, literally hundred of thousands have come through here and played. You wouldn't believe amount of texts and general love from everybody. The Circle may bend but it won't be broken."

It was reported that the Jack Cust Baseball Academy dome also collapsed suddenly, but it was purposely taken down, according to Raritan Township Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Deputy Coordinator Frank Veneziale. Keith Dilgard, president of the business at 5 Bartles Corner Road, the situation concerning the dome was being monitored throughout the day. There was damage to the dome, he said.

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A front end loader is used to clear snow from a Route 18 strip mall parking lot, Sunday, January 24, 2016, in East Brunswick. (Photo: Jason Towlen/Staff Photographer)

"It was the weight of the snow and the wind," Dilgard said. "We couldn't get to the property in time to minimize any damage. The biggest obstacle was there was so much snow around the property. We had employees able to get there and monitor it. There was a large amount of snow on one section of the dome – the back right corner – and that was causing that area to lower. We saw it sagging more than we ever saw it sagging before. We were trying to lower the dome with pressure slowly to minimize damage, but one of the seams ripped. We couldn't just deflate it because of the wind, so we had to keep it pressurized while we took it down."

Dilgard added that the company that created the dome was coming to the property Sunday to take a look at it.

"They are optimistic," he said. "Probably more than I am at this moment."

Minimal power outages

According to PSEG, as of 9:30 p.m. Sunday, 57 of the utility’s 2.2 million electric customers were reported without power as a result of the storm. Since the beginning of the blizzard, the utility restored service to more than 2,200 customers. Crews continued to work throughout the night to restore power to all customers and the utility also responded to no-heat calls.​

Most town officials made numerous pleas from authorities to stay off the roadways. At 8 a.m. Sunday, the Bridgewater Township Police Department asked all drivers to stay off roads as "roads are still impassable."

While most here are dreaming of warmer climates, Brandon Grebe and Lexi Sala of Vero Beach, Florida were visiting Sala's relatives in Helmetta and Monroe this weekend. The couple planned a New York weekend, but diverted plans when it became clear they would not be able to get back to New Jersey. After spending Friday in New York, they took the last train back and hunkered down in Helmetta. Grebe had never experienced snow before.

"This reminded me of a heavy rainstorm that leaves a heavy sheet of bright white snow," said Grebe as he readied to make his first sledding run. "It's very peaceful. But, you are inconvenienced once the snow stops."

In Monroe, a majority of roadways had been plowed at least twice with additional passes planned throughout the day and into overnight hours.

Helmetta planned a borough-wide snowman building contest for Sunday. Residents are asked to build a snowman/woman on their lawn, take a photo of the snowman with its builders and email the photo to Mayor Chris Slavicek at mayor@helmettaboro.com by midnight on Sunday. The top three most creative snowmen will be awarded prizes on Tuesday at the 7 p.m. Borough Council meeting.

Similarly, township officials from all counties said plow crews were actively working to clear the roads, but it will take time. Veneziale said he expects that because of the amount of snow — 27 inches in some areas — it will take a few days for Raritan Township to be clear curb-to-curb.

"This is a big dig out," he said Sunday morning. "This is a challenge to any road department. They are doing a fabulous job. It may take to the middle of the week to be completely clear because of the amount of snow."

As of Sunday afternoon, there is currently one power outage in Hunterdon County in Readington Township. According to the Hunterdon County OEM, JCP&L is investigating.

In South Brunswick, the Office of Emergency Management Director Chief Raymond Hayducka and Township Manager Bernard Hvozdovic called the storm "historic." with the township getting 23 inches of snow.

"While the sun is shining, the roadways remain hazardous," the officials said. "Several trucks and cars have been stuck in snow at intersections and off ramps. Vehicles should remain off the roadways today."

In East Brunswick, which saw more than 24 inches of snow, Route 18 between Cranbury and Milltown roads was closed in both directions for approximately two hours Sunday morning due to low hanging wires. In Councilwoman Denise Contrino's morning update she noted that while it appeared that many local roads did not look like they had been plowed, they had been.

"DPW (Department of Public Works) was not able to keep up with the pace of the storm with available manpower and equipment," she said. "The best case for local and side roads reaching some degree of normalcy is dinner time or later. We are grateful that we were spared the coastal flooding that apparently whacked the Jersey Shore but good."

East Brunswick resident Dina Starace imformed Contrino that her street, Avon Court, off Hillsdale Road, had not been plowed. Within an hour, that issue had been rectified.

Contrino cautioned residents to take their time shoveling.

"There is no prize for being the first one on your street to finish," she said. "In the course of your activities, if you would like to be a 'sporting sam,' you might want to shovel out the fire hydrant in front of your home or clear any debris from the catch basin. Any standing water there now will undoubtedly freeze and cause another problem later."

East Brunswick resident Corey Kochis, who lives on a side street off Meadow Road, said she has wonderful neighbors.

"We hired the boys across the street to help us dig out," she said. "Yesterday I trekked my way up the street to hang out with a friend and help her start to dig her car out. One of our neighbors used his snow blower to dig out 90 percent of her driveway and her walk. Unfortunately, her husband got stuck at the end of the street because as of Saturday night, we had not even been plowed once. Again, our wonderful neighbors helped him dig out his car and get him unstuck."

Highland Park's Christina Lupo lamented on the task to dig out her car from the Treetops Apartment complex.

"That snow is so high it reaches my upper thighs," said Lupo, who works at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset in Somerville. "I am dreading digging it out. But there are no snow days when you work in a hospital."

In North Brunswick, the Department of Public Works and private contractors continued their round-the-clock snow removal and plowing operations to ensure that all township roads were passable. The township's 34 plowing vehicles made repeated passes to roadways. Officials said that efforts were complicated due to record snowfall coupled with high winds that caused blowing and drifting snow back onto the streets.

Further, residents were urged to be patient and it was anticipated that all of the township roads will be cleared by evening.

As of Sunday, downtown Somerville's roads were clear and NJ Transit buses were running.(Photo: ~Courtesy of Paul Grzella)

In Somerville, hit with 28-inches of snow, officials cautioned residents to not park on the street. Several residents saw that Main Street was clear and store owners were clearing the sidewalks. Also NJ Transit buses were running. The OEM reported that some roadways were still impassable, but the plowing was continuing.